Rigid members such as conduit, pipe and tubing of standard trade sizes are oftentimes used for holding electrical conductors therein. For example, conduit sections are typically purchased from local stock, bent to the desired configuration and coupled together to form a channel for holding the conductors. However, using such rigid materials can be time consuming and cumbersome to install. Furthermore, while utilizing standard trade sizes enables conduit to be readily available through local stock, these standard trade sizes in many instances are not efficiently sized. For example, conduit that is larger than necessary results in material waste, increased weight and higher costs. Conversely, conduit that is too small can increase the likelihood of damage to the conductors during conductor installation and/or replacement within the conduit channel.
As an alternative, flexible cable with pre-installed conductors are oftentimes used in lieu of standard trade size rigid conduit or tubing in order to eliminate the tedious installation and inaccurate sizing as described above; however, such flexible cable configurations currently are not effective to enable easy removal and replacement of the conductors. While the outer jacket, sheath or armor can be sized to provide the requisite amount of free space or channel within the cable to facilitate removal and replacement of conductors, such flexible cable configurations are susceptible to damage during packing, shipping, installation, and/or removal and replacement of conductors since the outer sheath is provided with little or no support. For example, when a flexible cable is wound onto a storage reel, the weight of the cable can compromise and/or otherwise deform the cable's outer sheath thereby interfering with, and/or otherwise reducing the area of, the channel. This deformation can prevent and otherwise hinder the removal and replacement of the conductors within the flexible cable after it has been installed.
In addition, no effective methodology exists, other than utilizing trade size conduits or raceways, for increasing the size of the jacket, sheath or armor of a flexible cable to provide an adequately sized channel within the cable for removing and replacing the conductors contained within it. Moreover, with standard trade size conduits and raceways, the outer diameter or dimensions are fixed, which can limit available space to safely remove and replace the conductors or result in excessive or unnecessary space to safely remove and replace the conductors.